CLEVELAND — The jury trial for a Cleveland dance teacher accused of sexually assaulting eight former students began in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday morning.
Terence Greene, 57, was indicted on 72 felony charges after eight former students accused him of sexual assault, including rape, sexual battery, gross sexual imposition, and kidnapping in 2020. Greene is also accused of showing pornographic material to minors.
Opening statements
During his opening statement, Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Steven Szelagiewicz said Greene sexually assaulted his former students between August 1998 and October 2019. He said the young men were minors during the time, and Greene was their dance teacher at the Cleveland School of the Arts and Tri-C's Creative Arts Academy.
Szelagiewicz said, "You're going to hear that he assaulted these students in (a) locker room, at the school, his homes, and on school trips."
Greene is also charged with eight counts of felonious assault. Szelagiewicz said Greene assaulted the eight teenage boys when he knew he was HIV-positive.
"Whether they {the students} knew or not is not an issue," he said. "A child cannot consent to sex with someone that is HIV positive."
Greene's defense attorney, W. Scott Ramsey, questioned why the men had waited years to come forward with their sexual assault claims.
Ramsey told the jury, "The question you're going to ask and the big elephant in the room, is why now?"
Ramsey also said there is no DNA or other medical evidence to support the men's claims.
"There's nothing to corroborate anything that the people ... are going to say," he said.
History of allegations
News 5 Investigator Sarah Buduson broke the story about the allegations against Greene in July 2020 when some of the same former students filed a civil lawsuit against Greene.
The students also filed a claim against the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, alleging the district turned a blind eye to Greene's behavior for years.
CMSD settled the lawsuit in 2021 for $3.25 million.
Greene had resigned from his job at the Cleveland School of the Arts over sexual abuse allegations back in 2014.
Despite those allegations, Cuyahoga Community College hired Greene to teach children in 2015.
In 2019, one of his students at Tri-C filed a police report with Garfield Heights Police. In the report, the student alleged Greene sexually abused him at his home. The student's account sparked a criminal investigation and led to the current felony charges against him.
Greene's trial on those charges is expected to last two weeks.
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
You can watch more about the case in the player below:
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